Contributors from a range of disciplines consider the disconnect between human evolutionary studies and the rest of evolutionary biology.The study of human evolution often seems to rely on scenarios and received wisdom rather than theory and methodology, with each new fossil or molecular analysis interpreted as supporting evidence for the presumed lineage of human ancestry. We might wonder why …
"We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language--'the language faculty'--raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This boo…
"An original argument to explain the "language gap" between humans and other primates, drawing on research from evolutionary biology, paleobiology, and archaeology"--OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
"New genomic studies on ancient remains are unveiling different forms of inequality that were prevalent in the past and have shaped the genomes of humankind"--OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
Scholars have long been captivated by the parallels between birdsong and human speech and language. In this book, leading scholars draw on the latest research to explore what birdsong can tell us about the biology of human speech and language and the consequences for evolutionary biology. They examine the cognitive and neural similarities between birdsong learning and speech and language acquis…
'Scaffolding' is a concept that is becoming widely used across disciplines. This book investigates common threads in diverse applications of scaffolding, including theoretical biology cognitive science, social theory, science and technology studies, and human development. Despite its widespread use, the concept of scaffolding is often given short shrift; the contributors to this volume offer a …
Experts investigate communicative flexibility (in both form and usage of signals) as the foundation of the evolution of complex communication systems, including human language.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.